Veteran suicide hotline employees permitted to work remotely after concerns that in-office requirement would hurt service
The Veterans Affairs Department last week reversed course on requiring federal employees who staff a suicide hotline for former service members to return to work in an office.
A Veterans Crisis Line supervisor who spoke to Government Executive before the program was exempt from the in-person work mandate said employees were stressed about where they would be assigned to and if it would be close to where they live.
“These changes are not going to be benefitting our veterans. If anything, you’ve got distracted people answering the phones [and] just the logistics of bringing 2,000 people back to a local VA immediately is just not — it’s not working out well,” the supervisor said.
A department email obtained by Government Executive shows that members of the senior executive service and supervisors who live within 50 miles of a VA facility were required to report in-person full-time beginning on Feb. 24. All employees who live within 50 miles of a federal office were required to do so by May 5 and workers outside of the 50-mile radius were mandated to return to an office by July 28.
The supervisor had warned that placing VCL responders in workspaces with other VA and federal employees would create problems, especially considering the sensitivity of their work.
“You cannot just pack responders in a room like sardines because they’re all talking on the phone,” the supervisor said.
VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz emphasized in a statement to Government Executive that VCL responders were exempted from the return to office mandate before the deadline for compliance and that program supervisors were permitted to again work remotely as of March 6.
“VA’s policy is to bring as many employees back to the office as space permits. VA will make accommodations as needed to ensure employees have enough space to work and will always ensure that veterans’ access to benefits and services remains uninterrupted as employees return to in-person work,” he said.
House Democrats celebrated the decision to continue remote work flexibility for VCL.
“The administration’s blanket return-to office order showed a shocking disregard for the unique operational needs of this critical service and the vulnerable veterans who depend on it,” House Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Mark Takano, D-Calif., said in a March 10 statement. “But let me be absolutely clear: If the reversal demanded by my colleagues and I had not been granted, and if [it] is not maintained, veterans’ lives would be at risk.”
There was an average of 17.6 veteran suicides per day in 2022, according to VA data.
VCL used to operate out of call centers in New York, Georgia and Kansas, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced employees to work remotely. A 2020 VA Office of Inspector General report “did not identify, nor was the OIG told about, veteran care being negatively affected during VCL’s move to telework.”
The VCL supervisor said that remote work helped with recruitment, as the program had “drained the pool of applicants” in the areas where the call centers were.
“It was decided that, because we were really struggling with finding talent, we would just stay remote so that we could get folks from all over the country,” the supervisor said. “We’re not just focused on those three areas.”
While the VCL workforce has largely been spared from Trump’s attempts to reduce the federal employee headcount, there have been hiccups.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., wrote in a March 6 letter to the president and VA Secretary Doug Collins that at least two VCL employees were removed as part of the mass firings of probationary employees. Kasperowicz acknowledged that a “small number” of probationary workers were let go but have since been reinstated.
Likewise, the press secretary said VCL was exempt from the government hiring freeze. Federal News Network reported, however, that VA did withdraw job offers for prospective VCL workers before ultimately reissuing them.
The supervisor said that VCL employees were not eligible to participate in the “deferred resignation” offer, which they found out after some workers tried to take it.
Kasperowicz also said VCL is exempt from layoffs. VA is aiming to reduce its workforce by up to 83,000 people to return to its fiscal 2019 staffing level.
